Epilogue: A Symphony of Flowers

Summary

I have written as a political philosopher, perhaps even as a critical theorist and sometimes as a theoretician of global thought and international relations. Only intermittently did I allow for an artistic interpretation of Iran in order to add further perspectives to my own views. Undoubtedly, for anyone who wants to know Iran and especially for those readers who want to see Iran as a model for pluralism, peace, democracy, social equality and independence, the psycho-nationalistic depictions of the country by the political classes are not only utterly frustrating, they are simply untrue. Moreover, to the detriment of Iranians and the world, there is convergence in the way the reality of Iran has been manipulated by successive states ruling the country. In terms of an authoritarian approach to the way Iran should be interpreted, and in the way the meaning of the country is narrowed down to fit cloistered political ideologies filled with problematic notions of identity, the periods before and after the revolution are surprisingly consistent.